Galaxy Class Upgrade...a work in progress

I've started working on a highly detailed set of schematics for an updated version of the Galaxy Class, specifically the USS Venture. This will be a post Nemesis era upgrade, and center largely around upgrading the Venture's combat capabilities.

I plan on doing all five views, as well as a history of the ship from the time we first saw it in DS9, up through the upgrade. The write up will also include details about the upgrades themselves.

So click the thumbnail, and take a look at the changes I've already made. I should say now though, that the phasers are largely just place holders right now. I'm going to do something else with them, I just haven't decided what yet. Let me know what you think.

Thanks. And subtle is definitely what I'm going for, for the most part. My goal is to keep it as believable as possible, with no changes that are too drastic. So as you said, no third nacelle, or mega phaser cannon...or nacelles from another existing ship, or nacelles built into the saucer.

I'm not sure what's going on with the front of the saucer (I think it might be an auxiliary nav deflector) and where the captain's yacht is. I do like the extra phaser strips, the new RCS, and escape pods, but at this point it's hard to determine what is new and what isn't (at least on the ventral view).

There will be an enlarged auxiliary nav deflector in the same location on the bottom of the saucer where the auxiliary deflector was on the original Galaxy. At the front of the saucer, is just some random graphics I was trying out...sort of like the paneling on the nose of the Defiant class, though it's not working the way I want it to right now.

I thought about going with a Intrepid style auxiliary deflector on the upper side of the saucer, but ultimately decided against it.

The captains yacht has been replaced with a dual quantum torpedo launchers and eventually it may be expanded into a larger sensor platform/dome, reminiscent of the old sensor platforms seen on the refit Connie and Excelsior.

I'm still very early in the development of the upgrades, so at this point I'm still trying to get down the basics of the Galaxy Class itself. More changes/upgrades will become apparent as it progresses a bit more.

Here's a small update. I've started work on the bridge abd a few other spots on the top....also, I messed up the thrusters. I was tweaking the colors and changed everything to the same color so their much more difficult to see now. I didn't get a chance to change it though while I was working on it today, so I'll do it next time.
I should have mentioned this before, but this is a rather large image, so if you have a slow connection it might take some time.

Here is the first draft for the write up I mentioned earlier. Like the drawing, it's a work in progress.

USS Venture

Following the death of Captain Harkness, in early 2372, the Venture was assigned as the command ship for Starfleets new rapid reaction task force within the Bajoran Sector. While Starfleet couldn't yet redeploy an entire fleet towards the Bajoran sector and away from near by Cardassia, Starfleet Command was able to pool local assignments under the command of Admiral Hastur to ensure that a mobile reaction force was near by if and when the station found itself in need of assistance.

The task force was first put to the test during the Klingon assault in 2372. The Venture led twelve ships in the aid of DS9's defense and helped in securing the stations survival against increasing Klingon hostilities. The Venture would continue to provide support to DS9 and Bajor throughout the Klingon conflict, until hostilities were eventually resolved and a united Federation-Klingon defense of DS9 was established. Frayed edges certainly continued to exist between those on each side who had only weeks earlier been at war, but as a testament to the commitment of each side, the Venture and the Klingon were able to find common ground in a new threat; the Dominion.

Following the Dominion annexation of Cardassian, the Venture would continue to provide support for DS9, now operating as task Force command ship directly from DS9 and the Bajoran Star System.

The Venture would go on to participate in many of the key battles of the Dominion war, including Operation Return, the Battle of Chin'toka, and the Final Battle of Cardassia.

Surviving the War Intact:

It goes without saying that the Breen involvement in the war, particularly the devastating second Battle of Chin'toka, could not have been foreseen by anyone. It was by mere luck that the Venture survived.

Three weeks prior to the Breen led assault, the Venture had suffered a hull breach in her starboard dorsal forward quarter when a Cardassian picket ship attempted to cross the lines and land supplies on AR-558. The resupply attempt was thwarted, but at the cost of some fifty lives aboard the Venture and damage to the ship which forced her to return to Starbase 375 to undergo repairs.

Three weeks later, the combined Breen, Cardassian, and Dominion led advance crossed into Chin'toka and retook the system. Rumor has it, the yelling match between Hastur and Ross over the order to keep the Venture out of the battle could be heard over a light year away.

When the Breen unveiled their new weapon and proceeded to decimate the fleet sent to halt the Dominion advance, the crew of the venture could only sit and watch as many of those they had fought beside for so long perished light years away.

The Venture was pressed into service ahead of schedule, leading the task force sent to recover the surviving crews of the decimated Starfleet/Klingon fleet. Those who had been spared, brought with them the horror stories of the loss of each ship. Many believe the dominion had hoped their tales of loss would weaken the Federation will to fight. That was not the effect felt by those aboard the Venture.

Following the conclusion of the war, the Venture returned to Mars for the first time since the completion of her initial shake down cruise, to undergo major repairs. It was at this time that many of the crew began to move on. Admiral Hastur was reassigned to a new fleet command position as the Venture began her long over due down time.

Unlike her explorer brothers and sisters, the Venture had always been geared towards combat operations. Her life after the war would be no different. Following her stint at the Utopia Planitia yards, the Venture would come under the command of Captain T'Shacne and once again be assigned to the Bajoran system to aid in the defense of DS9 and Bajor. The war created thousands of profiteers, those with fast ships using the supply of abundant weapons to take advantage of war torn veterans.

For more than five years, the Venture patroled the Bajoran sector, the outskirts of the badlands, and helped to provide protection for relief convoys heading towards Cardassia Prime.

The Venture would return again to earth in late 2380, to undergo the fleet wide Galaxy Class refit and upgrade program. On June 3, 2380 the Venture entered drydock 104 to undergo the Mk. V Galaxy RE-UP program. Unlike the earlier refit programs which had seen various refits and upgrades to most of the galaxy class ships in the original run of six hulls, including the refit Enterprise-D just prior to her destruction, or the later upgrades to the Venture herself, the new MK V refits would see a the Venture undergo a vast overall of nearly all systems.

The MK V program was designated as a primary combat upgrade, for those ships like the Venture that are more combat and command oriented. The MK IV upgrade, is designated as an defensive and explorations upgrade, for those ships with more wide scale mission profiles.

The MK V program would see the instillation of a new warp core, upgraded impulse engines, faster computer cores with a full bio-neural gel pack circuitry, and increased shielding technologies.

Many of the Venture's large recreational and family oriented spaces, which had already been abandoned or undergone makeshift refits as needed, would see their complete removal to make room for increased weapons systems, instillation of staggered secondary command processors and backup fusion generators, as well as new quantum torpedo holding stations.

Under the MK V program, the Venture would also be the first Galaxy Class ship to receive a new coat of the class IV ablative armor. The Class IV armor was reserved for Starfleets font line combat ships, such as the Defiant and Prometheus class vessels. Defense planners had argued over giving some Sovereign class ships Class IV armor, however the already heavy upgrades undergoing throughout the Sovereign class roster, were already deemed too costly and as a compromise, only a small percentage of Galaxy Class ships would receive the class IV armor. (as fate would have it, at least one Sovereign class ship did end up receiving class IV armor, the USS Enterprise-E, following the Shinzon incident near Romulus. The clear and present danger presented by this new Romulan threat was more than enough evidence to convince any lingering doubts that the Sovereign and the Galaxy class should both receive class IV armor.)

Further upgrades within the MK V program include, new more efficient warp coils that significantly reduce the effects subspace damage during prolonged warp field use, while allowing for longer duration high warp speeds. A new upgraded secondary navigational deflector was installed, while the primary deflector was upgraded as well.

Some contemplated the possibility of permanently joining the Venture's two hull components. The original justification for saucer separation capabilities were to allow the galaxy class to protect the civilian members of its crew aboard the saucer, while the star drive section pushed on into dangerous situations. With the removal of civilians from the Venture completely, and the entire ship now acting as one combined, fighting unit, it was argued that saucer separation was no longer needed. In this configuration, the additional concealed phaser arrays and torpedo launcher would be removed, and the battle bridge would be converted into an auxiliary control point, should the main bridge become compromised.

This reignited the debate that had long been carried on in regards to upgrading the galaxy class. Fleet planners were forced to consider, just how much of a warship they wanted the new upgraded galaxy class ships to be. There were no mistakes being made, everyone knew these ships would not be peacefully expanding the federations boarders. As they had in the Dominion war, the new galaxy class MK V, would be anchoring task forces and fleet engagements, when not acting on its own recognizance to deal with situations that could not be handled with diplomacy.

In the end, a compromise was reached. Starfleet would create five custom MK. VB variants to serve as fleet defense ships, each utilizing the latest tech available to reach as high a level of combat functionality as possible. The standard MK. V would retain its saucer separation capabilities, while the MK. VB would become a single hulled starship, dedicated to combat operations.

Just the kind of work I've come to expect from you, which is done in Illustrator, correct? When I first saw your account name under the thread title, I got so excited, because I've looked at your work on many occasions, but have never been able to comment on them!.

Good to see that you are starting again on one of your Trek projects. Will you be finishing the Nebula refit too?

To answer your questions Jes, I use Inkscape, which is very much like Illustrator, but free online. The Nebula class refit...it's certainly on the list of things to do. The original drawing was done in Paint Shop Pro so to get back to it, I'd probably redo it with Inkscape. As I said, it's on the list of things to redo in Inkscape, along with a number of my older Trek drawings. So I hope to get to it eventually.

I've done a couple other recent Trek designs in Inkscape though, so I'll post those soon as well.

I thought that while waiting for updates on the Venture, some of you might enjoy seeing some of my other recent Trek drawings/schematics.

Here is the Nebula Class Upgrade which Jes was referring to:
There are a few details on their I like that I might include on the Venture.

Next up is the Logbow class Runabout. This is the final product of a design that has been in some form of development since the early 200o's and started off as the Raptor Class Fighter. As you might can tell, it was heavily inspired by Data's Scout from Insurrection.
No side view for this will likely be done, so just a heads up to anyone that might want to ask if one is in the works.

And then we have an Ambassador Class upgrade:
Like everything else, this one isn't finished either. lol

And next to last is a shuttlepod design:
I don't have much to say about it, other than the fact that I consider it done.

And last, and certainly the largest design of the bunch a concept for a new Mushroom type starbase:
It's roughly the same size as the old mushroom style bases, but has much more internal volume.

Enjoy and if you like any of them or have comments or questions, then by all means feel free to speak up.

That Ambassador class upgrade looks interesting, although the shorter neck makes the large nacelles look absurdly huge. I'm also not sure whether the bussard collectors would clear the saucer (it looks like they would on the top view, but not the side).

You're right about the nacelles, at least in terms of their position. Lowering them a bit is on my list of things to do, if/when I get back around to working on this one again. I'm not sure I agree about the size issue, though it may be worth scaling them down a bit to see how they look...on the other hand, it may be worth thinking about raising the saucer back up a deck or two as well.

I'm also currently working on developing some visual concepts, 2d & 3d, for an original universe space series, that I would eventually like to post here as well. I'm not sure where where I should start the thread though, given that it's not Trek related.

I thought that while waiting for updates on the Venture, some of you might enjoy seeing some of my other recent Trek drawings/schematics.

Here is the Nebula Class Upgrade which Jes was referring to:
There are a few details on their I like that I might include on the Venture.

Next up is the Logbow class Runabout. This is the final product of a design that has been in some form of development since the early 200o's and started off as the Raptor Class Fighter. As you might can tell, it was heavily inspired by Data's Scout from Insurrection.
No side view for this will likely be done, so just a heads up to anyone that might want to ask if one is in the works.

And then we have an Ambassador Class upgrade:
Like everything else, this one isn't finished either. lol

And next to last is a shuttlepod design:
I don't have much to say about it, other than the fact that I consider it done.

And last, and certainly the largest design of the bunch a concept for a new Mushroom type starbase:
It's roughly the same size as the old mushroom style bases, but has much more internal volume.

Enjoy and if you like any of them or have comments or questions, then by all means feel free to speak up.

Click to expand...

I've always liked your Nebula refit, with all of the additional phaser arrays.

I've always also liked the idea that the Nebula class can be fitted with a mission pod similar to the standard one, but with some of the sensor pallets replaced by many torpedo launchers, making her a sort of torpedo cruiser, similar to the Akira class, but less agile, but perhaps even more heavily armed.

I've had the idea in my head to design refitted versions of the Galaxy class's other cousins: the New Orleans, Challenger, Entente, and Springfield classes, and maybe even fan designs such as the America class battleship, and my own design, which I have decided to call the Nealson class, but given that I already have multiple incomplete designs as it is, I think I should finish the ones I have already started on. I don't think I want to leave as many designs unfinished as you have.

You're certainly quick, even if most of your designs are unfinished. Wish I was as quick, most of the time, I'm as slow as a snail in Illustrator.

And ah yes, the ever ubiquitous Ambassador class refit. There are quite a few designs for the classes upgrade, but it is still nice to see different takes on the design's refit.

If it were me, I would have given the Exeter the registry NCC-26513, but that is because I like making little references to other fan works. In this case, this registry IIRC, was assigned by The Red Admiral, of the now dead Trekmania.net.

I'm also currently working on developing some visual concepts, 2d & 3d, for an original universe space series, that I would eventually like to post here as well. I'm not sure where where I should start the thread though, given that it's not Trek related.

Click to expand...

By all means, I think you'll find that anything you post on the Subspace Comms will be welcomed here.
Any chance that we might see some of your Trek designs or refits in 3D similar to your New Haven Chronicle designs?

I really like the look of the upgraded Nebula as well. I think my old Nebula with the new details I've done for the Venture will look pretty cool, if and when I get around to it.

There are a couple designs that I would love to see done in 3d, but I don't have the knack for it, at least not yet. A lot of the stuff for New Haven is easy to do because it's mostly flat surfaces, lots of flat armored panels. Star Trek designs are much more organic and require skills that I don't have yet. Plus to be honest, I've been moving away from 3d lately. It just takes so long and puts such a strain on my PC. I find that now I'm getting to the point where I'd rather simply draw it in 2d...even if I only draw the side or top views. I often can get much more detail in the drawing than I can in 3d and when I stick to 2d, I end up getting more actual work done.

It seems now though I haven't done all that much new drawing in Trek in a long time. The majority of what I'm working on, is simply redoing old work or making changes to an existing design. I need to get back to some original designs...if I can find some inspiration.

As for New Haven, I'm working on a write up to try and cover some of the background of the series/universe, before I start posting artwork. It's almost down, so maybe another day or two.

And I should have an update for the Venture later tonight or tomorrow. I worked on it some this morning and made a bit of progress on the top view and I've also started the side view...though it's not working out as well as I'd hoped.

I've dug up a few of my older Trek drawing including a few other upgrade/variants that I eventually intend to redo in Inkscape. I'll not post this all at once this time....just to make sure you all keep coming back for more. lol

The Nebula...stripped down.
This concept originated with the idea or rather the rumor, that one possible purpose for the Nebula was to move around Galaxy Class Saucer Sections. Who knows if that's true or not, but I rather like the idea that like the Galaxy Class, the can detach it's saucer. And so if we're removing parts, then why not lose the pod and the pod nacelle as well, which leaves us with the bottom variant. It creates an interesting look in both cases and if nothing else, they're certainly unique. And I think it would be cool to see in the fleet shot, a saucer-less Nebula cruising around.

An older, original design. The Barracuda class Escort. Not much to say about it, except that like the Defiant she's lean, mean, and does one thing very well.